limiting factor
Americannoun
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Physiology. the slowest, therefore rate-limiting, step in a process or reaction involving several steps.
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Biology. an environmental factor that tends to limit population size.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As AI’s computing needs get bigger, power density has become a limiting factor, Analog said.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
A year ago, a shortage of natural gas turbines was the biggest limiting factor behind the AI boom, because data centers couldn’t build enough power plants to get electricity to those data centers.
From Barron's • May 4, 2026
However, the new findings clearly show that oxygen diffusion within flight muscle tracheoles is not the limiting factor.
From Science Daily • Apr. 25, 2026
Imagination was never the limiting factor for Poetic Kinetics creative director Patrick Shearn’s fourth project for Coachella.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026
That's really the limiting factor to life support.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
